PGD Blog

On Savings

Today's opinion piece by the cheerleader of capitalism, Thomas Friedman, on climate change is a fantastic read.  The piece is here.  An eye-opener:

"[...] my trip with Denmark’s minister of climate and energy, Connie Hedegaard, to see the effects of climate change on Greenland’s ice sheet leaves me with a very strong opinion: Our kids are going to be so angry with us one day. We’ve charged their future on our Visa cards. We’ve added so many greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, for our generation’s growth, that our kids are likely going to spend a good part of their adulthood, maybe all of it, just dealing with the climate implications of our profligacy."

One more thing we're charging on our Visa cards...

Tap, please

Yesterday I attended an event to raise funds for water conservation projects by The Nature Conservancy.  The keynote speaker was burning-hot and talented water conservation expert, Alexandra Cousteau.   Before she spoke I gave a brief intro about the impact that dry cleaners have on water pollution. 

The basic idea is that when the solvent that most dry cleaners use is discarded it goes underground and pollutes the underground water sources.  People who know about dangerous chemicals wouldn't even water their plants with water that has been contaminated by this chemical, much less use it as tap water.

Luxury = Waste

I realized how much our idea of luxury is tied to waste this weekend while I was having dinner at a steakhouse in Boston to celebrate my sisters graduation.

For some reason, fancy restaurant owners feel that to justify charging $45 for a really good steak they need to have individual paper towels with their own logo in the bathroom.  In the old days, paper towels with the logo were a luxury, today, steak is luxury, paper towel isn't.  I'm sure some people would pay $50 for the same steak to a restaurant that makes a statement about reducing waste.

Is waste a by product of luxury? Or, is the concept of luxury based on waste (when wasting meant being able to afford under utilizing; like unnecessary packaging, lots of cars, leaving food on your plate, etc)?

One of the things we are working on at Slate is on switching from luxury = waste to luxury = luxury, eliminating waste from the equation.